Declaring that “it’s time take poop out of the closet,” Goodman plops factual pellets from human and natural history alike into topical chapters covering dung’s nature; production; varieties; uses in love, war, and, yes, sports; the development of flushing toilets (pointedly scrubbing the myth that Thomas Crapper was solely responsible); toilet paper; and urban waste reclamation. Smith takes on the subject with appropriate lack of gravity, adding lots of small, pop-eyed animals and people amid flushes of comic-strip dingbats. The author brings up the rear with recommended paper and web resources. A steaming pile of fun, redolent of wide-ranging research but most suited to recreational dipping, and a fine lead-in to Masoff’s monumental Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty, illustrated by Terry Sirrell (2000). (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-670-03674-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2004
In this natural companion to Beaks! (2002), illustrated by Robin Brickman, Collard introduces types of teeth as well as the many uses to which they are put by wild animals, from stabbing or crushing food to displaying emotion. He also discusses numbers of teeth and how they grow, the differences between teeth and horns or antlers and the various places besides jaws that they grow in some fish. Supplemented by the occasional skull or inside close-up, Saroff’s big, naturalistic head shots depict a wide variety of wildlife, artfully angled, often looking directly at viewers and, for the meat-eaters, with toothy mouths crowd-pleasingly agape. Dramatically illustrated and with information that is deftly pitched to the intended audience’s level, this makes a fine choice amid the multitude of like-themed titles for either pleasure or purpose reading. (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58089-120-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2007
Illustrated with a mix of color photos and lighthearted cartoon art, Bourgeois’s latest outing lays a thin layer of inquiry over a wide variety of dirt-related topics—from mud, stains and sand to archaeology, gardening and plate tectonics. Warning readers with weak stomachs not to read further, she begins with the observation that we are surrounded, and in fact covered, with dirt that not all the soap or detergents (the chemical actions of which she explains) in the world can remove for more than a moment. Despite several simple science demonstrations and a true-false quiz about worms along the way, this is too quick a once-over to be more than an additional source for assignments or serious information-gathering. Casual browsers or younger readers of April Pulley Sayre’s Stars Beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust (2005), illustrated by Ann Jonas, may sweep it up, though. (index) (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-55453-101-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2008
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